The city of Dunkirk previously asked to purchase a parcel owned by the county for $1.

The county is instead willing to sell it if the city will cover the taxes owed on it.

In October, the Chautauqua County Legislature’s Administrative Services Committee had tabled a resolution to sell parcel number 96.06-3-1 to Dunkirk for $1. According to the county’s GIS page, the parcel sits at the corner of West Lucas Avenue and Brigham Road. It is a little less than 8 acres in size.

The foreclosed owner is Bealco Inc. and it has $20,520 owed in back taxes.

The resolution was pulled and brought back in November.

The resolution was modified to state that, according to a resolution that was passed in 2017, the county shall transfer property to municipal corporations “provided that such a transfer is in the best interest of the county, upon payment by the municipal entity of applicable recording charges and all delinquent taxes and current year taxes levied on such parcels but not yet returned to the county for enforcement.”

This resolution passed unanimously by the county legislature.

Director of Real Property Tax Division Kimberly A Meleen said in an email that the back taxes are “$20,691.43 and this doesn’t include the current school tax.”

Dunkirk Director of Planning and Development Vince DeJoy said the Lucas Avenue parcel is a Brownfield site.

“There exists a NYS DEC report on the site that lists what the limitations for use of the site exist. Basically, we cannot dig into the ground to place a foundation on the site due to existing contamination,” he said in an email. “The property will be utilized for DPW operations, predominantly ground storage. The future potential use for the area that doesn’t have contamination proposed is a salt shed.”

He noted a salt shed can have concrete jersey barriers block with a vinyl cap, like a lightweight, prefabricated metal structure with a semicircular, arch-like shape.

When asked in a follow up email if the cost increasing from $1 to more than $20,000 would impact Dunkirk’s decision to buy the property, he did not respond.

A message to Dunkirk Mayor Kate Wdoziaz was not returned.